Objective:
An objective of the Delta Obesity Prevention Research Unit (Delta OPRU) being conducted in part under this cooperative agreement is to identify barriers and facilitators to adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DG) and examine how differential profiles of adherence relate to obesity in children and adults of the Delta region. The specific objective of this cooperative agreement is to establish and support a cooperative partnership between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Tufts University (Tufts) which will permit scientific work amongst ARS/Tufts Nutrition Scientists to construct conceptually and culturally appropriate survey tools to assess DG adherence barriers and facilitators for African-American and Caucasian children and their caregivers of the Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) region and elsewhere in the U.S.

Approach:
The Delta Obesity Prevention Research Unit (Delta OPRU), in partnership with Tufts University and other research cooperators, will use data obtained from nominal group methodology, to construct conceptually and culturally appropriate survey tools to assess the adherence to the USDA Dietary Guidelines of African American and Caucasian fifth grade children and their caregivers in the Lower Mississippi Delta region and elsewhere in the U.S. Tufts scientists will contribute expertise in dietary intake assessment, sampling design, and data entry management for this survey the HEALTH study. Tufts scientists will also provide technical expertise in pilot research using dietary data, for the identification of dietary patterns which will be adapted to the DG for the LMD and other participating sites. These data will be used to determine the feasibility of the adoption of these patterns in the prevention of obesity. Tufts’ representative will provide technical expertise in proposal writing, data analysis and manuscript preparation.